Pactamycin and certain analogs thereof are known and described in, for example, S. Hannasian et al., J. Org. Chem. 77, 9458-9472 (2012); W. Lu et al., Chemistry and Biology 18, 425-431 (2011), and T. Mahmud, PCT Publication No. WO2012/018854. Some prior syntheses of these compounds rely on enzymatic mechanisms, which, among other things, limits the substitutions which can be obtained thereon. Other synthetic sequences are lengthy, which limit the analogs that can be created. Accordingly, there is a need for new ways to make pactamycin and analogs thereof which do not rely on enzymatic steps or long synthetic sequences.